COVID-19 Megathread 6: Return of the Omicron

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/MonmouthPoll/status/1438256431883558919

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

We just surpassed the populations of the cities of Boston (24th largest), El Paso (23rd largest), and Oklahoma City (22nd largest). That's the equivalent of roughly twenty-three 9/11 attacks in sheer volume of death, four of them last week alone.

We go to great lengths to reduce the death from vehicle collisions, and I do not feel any sympathy for people nailed for 78 mph on a 70 mph rural freeway as the result of enhanced enforcement by the state troopers.

Did you know you still can catch Pneumonia or sore throat or flu and we got antibiotics and vaccines for it, and we can still catch Covid with vaccine, our immunity have developed since 1918 from the flu and Pneumonia that's it's not a Pandemic like Covid, Covid will be Eradicated sooner or later when our immunity develop a pernament IMMUNE system from the virus 2/10 yes

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

I've missed that US has overtaken UK in #'s covid-deaths per capita. The only advanced economies with higher covid-deaths per capita now are Belgium and Italy. US is likely going to overtake them in a month.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#main_table

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Covid is never going away. It's sad but this is a permanent pandemic now.

1. For vaccinated covid is like flue, so who cares.

2. Wrong, with ~90%+ herd immunity, it'll be endemic. By Spring, you'll get it, either by vaccination or by Delta's incredible transmission rate. And as we now know, that natural immunity is likely to be as strong as induced, it really doesn't matter in long run.


https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/09/15/natural-immunity-vaccine-mandate/
Natural immunity to covid is powerful. Policymakers seem afraid to say so.
People making decisions about their health deserve honesty from their leaders.

It’s okay to have an incorrect scientific hypothesis. But when new data proves it wrong, you have to adapt. Unfortunately, many elected leaders and public health officials have held on far too long to the hypothesis that natural immunity offers unreliable protection against covid-19 — a contention that is being rapidly debunked by science.

More than 15 studies have demonstrated the power of immunity acquired by previously having the virus. A 700,000-person study from Israel two weeks ago found that those who had experienced prior infections were 27 times less likely to get a second symptomatic covid infection than those who were vaccinated. This affirmed a June Cleveland Clinic study of health-care workers (who are often exposed to the virus), in which none who had previously tested positive for the coronavirus got reinfected. The study authors concluded that “individuals who have had SARS-CoV-2 infection are unlikely to benefit from covid-19 vaccination.” And in May, a Washington University study found that even a mild covid infection resulted in long-lasting immunity.

So, the emerging science suggests that natural immunity is as good as or better than vaccine-induced immunity. That’s why it’s so frustrating that the Biden administration has repeatedly argued that immunity conferred by vaccines is preferable to immunity caused by natural infection, as NIH director Francis Collins told Fox News host told Bret Baier a few weeks ago. That rigid adherence to an outdated theory is also reflected in President Biden’s recent announcement that large companies must require their employees to get vaccinated or submit to regular testing, regardless of whether they previously had the virus.

Everyone has a choice to either get vaccinated or take a risk by getting sick themselves and/or transmit to their loved ones (and others as well). But at the end (likely by Spring), everyone [90%] will get a strong immune system against Covid.

[WMS]

Cross-posting from IGD:

A grim point to consider: there is very likely huge underreporting of COVID worldwide, especially in the more repressive regimes.

Start here.

I believe the Economist estimates are that between 7 and 13 million have actually died from COVID.

Just a reminder about how many countries are hiding or lying about their COVID rates…

Excess deaths since country’s first 50 covid deaths
Last updated on September 10th
                          TIME PERIOD       C-19 D’S  XCS D’S  XCS D’S/100K
Peru                    3/22/20-9/4/21   198,450   194,570              593

Bulgaria               4/19/20-8/28/21 18,690       36,510             525

North Macedonia  3/31/20-6/29/21  5,480         10,470             504

Russia                 3/31/20-7/30/21  155,940    652,070             446

*23 more countries*

United States       3/7/20-8/20/21    613,860    788,900             241

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Cross-posting from IGD:

A grim point to consider: there is very likely huge underreporting of COVID worldwide, especially in the more repressive regimes.

Start here.

I believe the Economist estimates are that between 7 and 13 million have actually died from COVID.

Just a reminder about how many countries are hiding or lying about their COVID rates…

Excess deaths since country’s first 50 covid deaths
Last updated on September 10th
                          TIME PERIOD       C-19 D’S  XCS D’S  XCS D’S/100K
Peru                    3/22/20-9/4/21   198,450   194,570              593

Bulgaria               4/19/20-8/28/21 18,690       36,510             525

North Macedonia  3/31/20-6/29/21  5,480         10,470             504

Russia                 3/31/20-7/30/21  155,940    652,070             446

*23 more countries*

United States       3/7/20-8/20/21    613,860    788,900             241

As I stated, the US is gonna be the worst among advanced economies.

[WMS]

Cross-posting from IGD:

A grim point to consider: there is very likely huge underreporting of COVID worldwide, especially in the more repressive regimes.

Start here.

I believe the Economist estimates are that between 7 and 13 million have actually died from COVID.

Just a reminder about how many countries are hiding or lying about their COVID rates…

Excess deaths since country’s first 50 covid deaths
Last updated on September 10th
                          TIME PERIOD       C-19 D’S  XCS D’S  XCS D’S/100K
Peru                    3/22/20-9/4/21   198,450   194,570              593

Bulgaria               4/19/20-8/28/21 18,690       36,510             525

North Macedonia  3/31/20-6/29/21  5,480         10,470             504

Russia                 3/31/20-7/30/21  155,940    652,070             446

*23 more countries*

United States       3/7/20-8/20/21    613,860    788,900             241

As I stated, the US is gonna be the worst among advanced economies.

Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Italy are offended at being put in the same economic category as Russia.

[roxas11]

Biden really declared victory too soon.

I dont buy this at all and if anything had a lot of people simply went out and got the shot we would not even still be in the mess in the first place.

It would be the 1 thing if Biden himself had failed when it came to vaccine distribution, but it's another when a lot of people have decided not to get the vaccine. Biden had evey right to celebrate the fact that the US now has enough vaccines for every American because it is a great achievement that all americans should be very proud of and it was a major victory when it came to fighting covid yet, despite all of that many Americans simply chose not to get the shot


The reality is it is not Joe Biden fault that many people in the county simply refused to get vaccinated and frankly, it's embarrassing that we even had to do those silly Covid Vaccine Lotteries in order to convince people to protect themselves from a deadly virus in the first place. To me this demonstrates just how selfish people are today because nobody ever had to pay off my grandmother when she decided to take her kids to get the Polio vaccine

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, and Italy are offended at being put in the same economic category as Russia.

Yawn. Your "trolling" level is of kindergarten (Russian kindergarten that is) level 

As I stated, the US is gonna be the worst among advanced economies. Definition is by IMF. Right now only Belgium and Italy has higher deaths per capita.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/ianbremmer/status/1438489872436715520

[Calthrina950]

Covid is never going away. It's sad but this is a permanent pandemic now.

It's a massive indictment on both rugged individualism (lack of vaccine mandates by Biden) and neoliberal internationalism (borders and flights not shut down by Trump).

Long past time for a reckoning.

It is more accurate to describe it as endemic at this point. This does not mean that we should be subjecting ourselves to restrictions (i.e. mask-wearing) permanently.

[Inmate Trump]

Covid is never going away. It's sad but this is a permanent pandemic now.

It's a massive indictment on both rugged individualism (lack of vaccine mandates by Biden) and neoliberal internationalism (borders and flights not shut down by Trump).

Long past time for a reckoning.

It is more accurate to describe it as endemic at this point. This does not mean that we should be subjecting ourselves to restrictions (i.e. mask-wearing) permanently.

Surely covid can’t stay this severe and widespread forever, can it?  For it to transition to being endemic, I’d hope it’d be much less constantly widespread and severe than it is currently.

[Hammy]

Covid is never going away. It's sad but this is a permanent pandemic now.

It's a massive indictment on both rugged individualism (lack of vaccine mandates by Biden) and neoliberal internationalism (borders and flights not shut down by Trump).

Long past time for a reckoning.

It is more accurate to describe it as endemic at this point. This does not mean that we should be subjecting ourselves to restrictions (i.e. mask-wearing) permanently.

Surely covid can’t stay this severe and widespread forever, can it?  For it to transition to being endemic, I’d hope it’d be much less constantly widespread and severe than it is currently.

Given the hospitalization rates among vaccinated are still fairly low (even with Pfizer, despite being a third of the antibody level), it's more than likely that, even if it takes a few more booster doses, our bodies immune system will be strong enough to where it is functionally no more severe than the flu for those who have been vaccinated, and there's a good chance (though I'm largely guessing here) that the antibodies will be passed to children who are born after this.

[Calthrina950]

Covid is never going away. It's sad but this is a permanent pandemic now.

It's a massive indictment on both rugged individualism (lack of vaccine mandates by Biden) and neoliberal internationalism (borders and flights not shut down by Trump).

Long past time for a reckoning.

It is more accurate to describe it as endemic at this point. This does not mean that we should be subjecting ourselves to restrictions (i.e. mask-wearing) permanently.

Surely covid can’t stay this severe and widespread forever, can it?  For it to transition to being endemic, I’d hope it’d be much less constantly widespread and severe than it is currently.

I hope so as well, and I'm hopeful that as we finally begin to vaccinate children under 12, and perhaps, get more unvaccinated adults vaccinated, the rates will decline further.

[Dan the Roman]

We are actually kind of lucky Delta is so infectious as it is acting as a very effective block for more vaccine resistant strains.

The consistently high case rates are in some ways a good thing. Because if it was less good then ones which were better at causing serious illness for the vaccinated would be more likely to break through

[It’s so Joever]

We are actually kind of lucky Delta is so infectious as it is acting as a very effective block for more vaccine resistant strains.

The consistently high case rates are in some ways a good thing. Because if it was less good then ones which were better at causing serious illness for the vaccinated would be more likely to break through

I said this about alpha back in March/April…

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Virginia Tech has had 2 home football games now, and our average test positivity is still 1.3%, exactly the same as before the start of the season (48 case out of 3600 tests).  Though it did briefly spike to 2.1% between games.

[Virginiá]

and we wonder why people are leaving the hospitality sector in droves

https://twitter.com/JohnJHarwood/status/1438889838112133120

[emailking]

Moderna's vaccine is the most effective, but Pfizer and J&J also protect well, CDC-led study says

A head-to-head study of all three authorized coronavirus vaccines in the United States finds the Moderna vaccine is slightly more effective than Pfizer's in real-life use in keeping people out of the hospital, and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen vaccine comes in third, but still providing 71% protection.

Pfizer's vaccine provided 88% protection against hospitalization, and Moderna's was 93% effective.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention led a nationwide study of vaccination involving more than 3,600 adults hospitalized for Covid-19 between March and August.

"Among U.S. adults without immunocompromising conditions, vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 hospitalization during March 11--August 15, 2021, was higher for the Moderna vaccine (93%) than the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine (88%) and the Janssen vaccine (71%)," the team wrote in the CDC's weekly report on death and disease, the MMWR.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/17/health/moderna-vaccine-most-effective-cdc-study/index.html

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1438953409273606145

[compucomp]

https://twitter.com/AP/status/1438953409273606145

I disagree with this decision 100%. There is evidence from several studies that vaccine efficacy is waning with time and that a booster improves vaccine response. The FDA panel must make public why it disputed Pfizer's characterization of its data and show its analysis of why the studies we know about are flawed. Otherwise we are fair to question their motives and find ulterior ones, such as the panel holding short positions in JNJ, PFE, and MRNA, or them being in collusion with the WHO to push the poisonous "give up your vaccines for other countries" agenda.

[emailking]

I assume if you have a medical condition you can still get the booster.

[Inmate Trump]

This is ridiculous. The data is clear that a booster shot is needed.

This is a dangerous decision.

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

I assume if you have a medical condition you can still get the booster.

From AP article:

The FDA experts were scheduled to vote on one basic question: Does the evidence show that a Pfizer booster would be safe and effective for people 16 and older? In the event of a yes vote, the FDA is expected to quickly approve boosters for Pfizer’s shot.

But that is just one step in the process. The more thorny question of who should get the shots and when will be debated on Wednesday by advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC generally adopts the recommendations of the group, which sets policy for U.S. vaccination campaigns.

The CDC has said it is considering boosters for older people, nursing home residents and front-line health care workers, rather than all adults.

Separate FDA and CDC decisions will be needed in order for people who received the Moderna or J&J shots to get boosters.

My guess is, that they will vote yes for CDC reasonable group of "older people, nursing home residents and front-line health care workers, rather than all adults".

[Vaccinated Russian Bear]

https://twitter.com/megtirrell/status/1438961449855037441